LUCKNOW, Nov. 2 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has imposed a Rs.2 lakh cost on the state authorities for deprivation of property to a petitioner for more than 70 years. "The writ petition is allowed with the cost of Rs. 2,00,000/- to be paid by the respondents to the petitioner within 2 months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order," the court directed. "Accordingly, considering the long length of deprivation of the property, ends of justice would be met by granting adequate compensation which would also take into account continued deprivation of property for more than 70 years," it said. "Hence, the petitioners are directed to be granted compensation to be computed on the market rate of the disputed land as exist today as per the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013," the court said. The division bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai passed the judgment on October 29 while allowing a petition filed by Deepak Kumar Gupta and others in 2021. The petitioners sought directives for quashing of the October 9, 2023 order passed by the additional chief secretary, housing and urban planning, UP, whereby their claim for compensation was rejected. They further sought directions to the competent authority to determine and pay compensation for the land in question, together with the statutory benefits admissible in law. The land concerned is located Bhonja village of Ghaziabad district, formerly within Meerut district. The area has been described as approximately 98,858.51 square yards. According to the petitioners' counsel Shobhit Mohan Shukla, the land was originally acquired by the Northern Railway. A portion, which was allegedly surplus to the requirements of the Railway, was put to auction. The petitioners' predecessor Mukund Dass alias Mukund Lal participated in the auction and emerged as the highest bidder. Upon deposit of the requisite consideration of Rs 1,00,000, a sale certificate was issued on June 2,1945, followed by execution of a registered sale deed. On September 29,1958, the then tehsildar and assistant collector class-I Ghaziabad passed an order that the aforesaid land shall vest with Gaon Sabha under the provisions of section 117(1) of the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950. Since then, the litigation for the compensation for the said land has been continuing. HTC...